1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic apparatus such as a portable computer of book-type, and particularly, to a structure for allowing a battery pack or a CD-ROM drive device to be detachably contained in a casing of the electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various portable computers have been provided which are easy to bring about and attain high functional performance. This kind of computers have a box-like casing with a keyboard. The casing internally contains various functional components such as a hard-disc drive device, a floppy disc drive device, and the likes.
This kind of computer comprises a battery pack which functions as a drive power source so that the it can be used where a commercial alternating current power source is not available. THe battery pack is detachably supported in the casing of the computer. This battery pack is detached from the casing at a relatively high frequency, in comparison with the functional components such as the hard-disc drive device and the floppy disc drive device. In this respect, there has been a know computer in which a battery receptacle for containing the battery pack is formed at a bottom portion of the casing. This battery receptacle is open in the bottom wall of the casing or in front and side walls continuously extending from the bottom wall, so that the battery pack can easily be attached there to or detached therefrom, without disassembling the casing.
However, in a computer whose battery receptacle is open in the bottom wall of the casing, a heavy and large battery pack is installed and pulled out through the bottom side of the casing. Therefore, when the battery pack is installed into and extracted from the battery receptacle, the battery pack cannot be supported by the casing, and may unintentionally fall therefrom. Then, the battery pack falls down on the ground or floor, causing such an impact which damages the battery pack.
As a manner of solving this problem, it has been considered that the casing is place up side down to make the bottom wall of the casing face upwardly, when the battery pack is pulled out of the battery receptacle. In this manner, since the battery receptacle is open upwardly, the heavy battery pack can be supported from the lower side by the casing, and the heavy battery pack can be prevented from falling unintentionally.
However, in this manner, when the battery pack is pulled out of the battery receptacle, it is necessary for a user to carry out a troublesome service that a user must hook his or her finger on the heavy battery pack and pull up the pack. Thus, detachment of the battery pack causes a difficulty.
On the other hand, down-sizing of the casing has been promoted with respect to a computer in recent days, in order to improve its portability. Therefore, a number of functional components including the battery pack, the hard-disc drive device, the floppy disc drive device, and the likes are arranged in the casing at a high density. These functional components are each packaged in modules each having a specialized function. Further, these functional components are detachably supported in the casing, so that they can be respectively replaced with components of higher abilities.
However, in several kinds of computers, a plurality of functional components must be layered on each other in the thickness direction, in view of the internal space of the casing. If the functional components are thus layered on each other, a plurality of opening portions for inserting and exerting the functional components must be formed in the bottom and side walls of the casing, and therefore, the shape of the casing is complicated. In addition, covers are required for respectively covering the opening portions of the casing, and the components of the casing are increased in number by the covers thus added. Therefore, manufacturing costs are increased, and as a result, the price of the computer is increased.